Fruit Beetle Grubs (pachnoda)

Has anyone tried feeding their chams fruit beetle grubs (PACHNODA). I got some last week, I have only giving one but that was an experince as they are nasty big things to handle but my cham seemed to enjoy it.

Phil

I'm intrigued. Like most cham keepers, I'm always on the lookout for a new type of feeder insect to keep.

I was surprised to find a few sites out there offering Pachnoda as feeder insects (most of them seemed to be in Europe). Here's one on eBay: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Pachnoda-butana-beetles-livefood-feeder_W0QQitemZ130232435036QQcmdZViewItem?IMSfp=TL0806211023a33636

There are even a few sites out there that have instructions on how to rear them. This one seemed good: Pachnoda / Rhinoceros Beetle Rearing Instructions
and Sun beetles

Wikipedia says of Pachnoda marginata that "they are sometimes used as food for terrarium animals" and "Pachnoda marginata is an easy beetle to keep".

But that all leads me back to the same questions you had: are they okay to use as feeders? Does anyone else here have experience using them as feeders?

To add to that, this is the species of Pachnoda that is common where I live:

Pachnoda sinuata
Would you be prepared to feed your cham something like that (with the black and yellow 'warning' label)?

Any thoughts?

Is that the actual beetle? The grub itself looks like a very large version of the wax worm?

Phil

Yeah, that's the beetle. The grub looks the same as the marginata species:

Well my cham took much delight when I offerd it the grub last Friday and he's been in good health since.

They do look very meaty.

stucoady said:

They do look very meaty.

Click to expand...

Meaty, or fatty? Either way, I'm a sure a cham would be interested...

I recommend peope give them ago although be warned as I have heard they can bite and don't let go and when i handled one for the first time it sure tried to turn it's head to my fingers - very scary lol

my veiled used to love them (before he went on strike) the bigger the better! i found them very easy to keep, i have a few addult beetles at the moment, dont seemto be breeding...yet, i would try feeding the adults to you cham tho, there very hard, and smell foul! beetles taste bitter to chams aswell apparently, never eaten one myself tho, ....im blabbering agin...sorry, anyway,back to the point.... use the grubs as a treat more then a staple...

p.s never known one to bite...but theres a first time for everything...lol

I only got them for treats. I friend of mine said they bite wich is making me very carful when handling them lol

I've got some as well, which I feed as treats to my female Panther cham. I usually use a pair of plastic tweezers to pick up big grubs like this, and 1st time I pick up a fruit-beetle grub, it immediately bit a chunk out of the tweezers.

I have to use a small pair of tongs now and they still bite. You can hear it *tink-tinking* away until the cham grabs them. A few loud crunching sounds and they stop biting.

Don't know why the soft part crunches but it does. And they pour fluid everywhere when they crunch. Not that the cham cares.

I'm led to believe the larvi are as high in fat as wax worms or possibly even greater and a lot larger. Every reptile would go for them but they're possibly not good for them.

Core yes they bite

It is kinda painful..

'Fella' has one treat day a week.